FROM MAURITSSTAD TO NEW AMSTERDAM: MAPPING EARLY JEWISH PRESENCE
IN THE AMERICAS

Dear map friends, ladies and
gentlemen.

I am very honored to be invited by the New York Map Society
and the New York Public Library (NYPL)to present
to you From Mauritstad to New Amsterdam from
my ongoing project Mapping Jewish History.
For this lecture I have selected maps from the seventeenth century
which correspond with the first Jewish communities in the Americas.
These Dutch maps hardly give direct information about Jewish presence.
Nonetheless, with their help I sketch the role of Jews in the early
Dutch expansion to the West, discuss their share in the slave trade
and analyse the religious tolerance of Jews by the Dutch colonial
regimes.

(2) Let me begin with
this Leo Belgicus, with the north to the right, from the Flemish
cartographer Hondius (part of Wikimedia Commons). Maps of the Low Countries
in the shape of a lion symbolize their long struggle for independence
from Spanish kings who impose heavy taxes and a religious inquisition.
When this map is published 1611 in Amsterdam, its southern half, now
Belgium, is recaptured by Spain, but the access to the sea port of
Antwerp remains blocked. Because of this, merchants migrate to the
new trade center of Western Europe: Amsterdam. Among them are many
Portuguese and Spanish New Christians, who in the relative tolerance
of this city return to the Jewish faith. In Portugal their ancestors
converted to Catholicism under pressure and coercion and came to play
a prominant role in its first worldwide trade empire. The Portuguese
Inquisition started 1540 to root out ‘Judaist heresies’ and can be
understood as the reaction of the old aristocracy to the rise of a
new financial and commercial elite, hence the obsession with the ‘purity
of blood’. After four/five generations most New Christians have largely
assimilated, only a minority still clings to Jewish traditions in secret.
Many families of the last group migrate to Amsterdam to practice their
Judaism openly. From here Sephardic merchants keep trading with their
Portuguese relations in sugar and tobacco from Brazil, and spices and
cotton from India.

(3a) In 1621 is founded
the Dutch West India Company (WIC), next to the already highly profitable
Dutch East India Company. The purpose of these Protestant multinationals
is to compete with Catholic Spain and Portugal who form a royal union.
The new company becomes quite successful in the Dutch conquest of the
Portuguese North East Coast of Brazil. Here is a multi-sheet map with
the capture of the Pernambuco district by the WIC in March 1630 (from
the Maritime Museum Rotterdam). In the center you see the attack on
its capital Olinda with on the left the ships under admiral Lonck and
on the right the landing force.

(3b) The overview at the top shows to the left how
Portuguese traders have put fire to their own sugar-warehouses in Recife.
Beneath this is a boat were the crew takes soundings to chart treacherous
shallows in these coastal waters. This good news map is printed two
months later in Amsterdam. In the meantime Portuguese colonists start
a guerilla from the hinterland against the invaders, which forces them
later to abandon and bring down Olinda. Some 7000 soldiers and sailors
now retreat to Recife which can easier be fortified and defended. There
are only a handful Jews among these men, some are interpreters for
Dutch-Portuguese-Spanish. At least one is a former New Christian from
Pernambuco who acts as a strategic informant.

(4) This manuscript map
of the Pernambuco district from about 1640 (from the British Library)
depicts some towns and many sugar mills in the hinterland. From here
Portuguese colonists keep surrounding the invaders in Recife until
1632, when the mulatto Fernandes Calabar and several hundred runaway
slaves go over to the Dutch. With their knowledge of the terrain chances
turn and many plantations are destroyed. When moreover the neighboring
districts are conquered with the help of native allies, the Portuguese
guerilla can no longer be supplied by ship via the coast. The Calvinist
Company starts then a propaganda campaign. When the Portuguese guerilla
stops, the old colonists can continue to practice their Catholic faith
publicly and they will get economic help. Here merchants among the
Jewish settlers from Amsterdam fit in. They are anxious to rekindle
their Brazilian trade and can supply financial credit for rebuilding
the mills against promises of future repayment in raw sugar. Some even
acquire abandoned plantations for themselves. Multilingual Sephardim
form the link between the WIC and the Portuguese planters. Even tax
farmers are mostly Jews. At the bottom in the middle, opposite Recife,
you can detect the start of the new capital of Dutch Brazil: Mauritsstad.
The city is named after its governor-general, count Johan Maurits of
Nassau, of whom you see a painting at the right.

(5) Mauritsstad and Recife
are depicted on this manuscript map with their topography of 1643.
It's from the famous Vingboons workshop in Amsterdam (part of Wikimedia
Commons). Recife means ‘reef’ in Portuguese, for the reef that protects
the harbour. Since 1636 is located here, in Jews Street, the
oldest American synagogue (white arrow), named Kahal Zur Israel (Rock
of Israel). Some years later the Sephardic community builds a second
synagogue in Mauritsstad called Maguen Abraham (Shield of
Abraham). Isaac Aboab da Fonseca from Amsterdam is the first rabbi
of the New World. A few Portuguese New Christians now return to Judaism.
One of them is the contractor who builds the bridge between Recife
and Mauritsstad. At the top in the white area is written Der Joden
Begraef Plaets (The cemetery of the Jews). Jews amount up to 1/3
of the 2400 local free men on a total of some 6000 souls, including
soldiers and slaves. Dutch Brazil enjoys freedom of faith and knows
no Inquisition, nevertheless the growing Jewish community encounters
stiff resistance from fervent Protestants ánd Catholics. They request
the WIC out of respect for the name of Christ, our Lord to
curb the influx of Jewish migrants and to order that they wear a yellow
sign. Economically, they must not be allowed to sell directly to customers.
Religiously, their ceremonies must strictly be kept within the synagogues.
The governor-general and his council order restraint and tolerance
to all. But in fact Jews can be shopkeepers and practice their faith
publicly.

(6) As the WIC extends
its powers over the sugar producing Brazilian districts, the demand
for slaves increases. But their existing trading posts on the West
Coast of Africa prove insufficient, so they mount expeditions to conquer
Portuguese forts there. In 1637, a fleet with 800 soldiers, 400 sailors
and a group of Brazilian natives sails from Recife to the Gold Coast.
In august they capture Elmina (arrow E), assisted by African fighters
from coastal tribes. In 1642 the WIC succeeds in taking the whole Gold
Coast. Meanwhile they occupy, although only for some years, the big
slave station of Luanda (arrow L), on the coast of Angola. Here you
see a navigation map by Johan van Loon with the West Coast of Africa
(the North is to the left) and a Vingboons manuscript plan of Elmina
and its surroundings (from the Dutch National Archives) with the fort,
its castle and the adjacent ‘negro town’ (in Dutch: de negerije).
The Catholic nations of Portugal and Spain still dominate the slave
trade, but now they loose a large share to the Protestant companies
from Holland and England. The WIC enjoys a monopoly in the Dutch transatlantic
slave trade. While crossing the ocean, chained slaves have the same
space as passengers nowadays in the economy class of a Boeing 747.
But an average of 1/6 of the Africans die during this passage, which
lasts at least a month. Jewish merchants cannot take part in this transatlantic
trade, but they play a striking role in the slave trade in Dutch Brazil.

(7) Here, on contemporary
watercolors by Zacharias Wagener, you see the slave market in Jews
Street, Recife, and house slaves transporting a Portuguese lady.
Research on the auctions in Pernambuco shows that the purchase of slaves
by Jews rises from 21% for 1637/40 (an average of 127 slaves a year)
to almost 50% for 1641/44 (that’s 341 slaves a year). The slaves are
often sold on credit, later to be paid in raw sugar. The dominancy
of Jews is shown also by a ruse from Catholic and Protestant slave
traders who in 1644 try to organize a slave auction on a Jewish holiday.
But the government intervenes and the plot fails. When the mass of
slave workers on modern plantations and sugar mills outnumber the familiar
house slaves, racial notions transform old Jewish precepts. From 1647
on, ‘Jewish mulattos and blacks’ are to be buried on a separate section
of the Jewish cemetery. Growing separation within the community is
not limited to Jews. Protestant masters prevented already in 1636 baptized
slaves to participate in their church services, they should attend
special services. And after 1649 the Jewish congregation of Recife
fines the Jewish master who circumcises his slave so he can become
part of his household, as was the custom based on Genesis 17:12/13
and Exodus 12:44. Henceforth circumcision is allowed only after manumission
and conversion to Judaism.

(8) How much owners of
sugar mills depend on their African slaves can be seen on this map
with the districts Pernambuco and Itámaracá. It is a Spanish version
of a part of the wall map from 1647 by the cartographer and astronomer
Markgraf for governor-general Johan-Maurits, edited by the famous Blaeu
firm in Amsterdam (part of Wikimedia Commons). The slave trade remaines
a risky business. The great Portuguese-Brazilian revolt against the
WIC starts 1645 in Pernambuco. Catholic colonists, slaves and natives
with guns, sickles and arrows drive the mercenaries back to the fortified
capital and its harbor. Now the regional trade collapses and collecting
debts becomes impossible. Jewish slave traders and tax farmers suffer
heavily from this. The privilege that Jews don’t have to join the civil
guard on Sabbath is now revoked. On a manuscript map from 1648 one
fort is even called Joden Wacht - Jews Guard. As attempts
to break the Portuguese enclosure keep failing, Mauritsstad and Recife
have to be provisioned by see. When the First Anglo-Dutch See War makes
military assistance from Holland no longer possible, the WIC decides
to abandon Brazil. January 1654 they agree to capitulate to the Portuguese
against the safe departure for Protestants ánd Jews and promises of
compensation for material losses.

(9) Many Jewish settlers
have already left before the fall of Mauritsstad, the others follow
after the Portuguese conquest. I show some destinations on this West
Indian Paskaert on parchment by Anthonie Jacobs from Amsterdam
1646 (from Het Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam). This beautifully decorated
map, with compass lines for navigation, charts the coasts and islands
of the Atlantic Ocean and even of the South East Pacific. With sandglasses
to keep time and a sundial to correct time, with log lines and a half
minute glass to check the speed of the ship, its officers usually know
where they are on the map. From Recife several Jewish families sail
to English Barbados or settle on the Dutch coast of Guyana (see the
green line). The red line indicates a group of Jews which leaves Recife
in February 1654 on board the Falcon, heading for French Martinique,
where they can practice their religion freely. But a severe tempest
and strong contrary winds causes the ship to strand on Spanish Jamaica,
where passengers and crew are imprisoned. The Jews are even threatened
with transport to Spain to be judged by the Inquisition. Luckily, after
a while all can leave on board the French St. Catherine. This
ship arrives early September in New Amsterdam. In a moment I’ll turn
to the adventures of this group. The majority of the Jews from Brazil
return with their rabbi to Amsterdam as shown by the blue line. Some
years later most of these exiles cross the Atlantic again to settle
or trade in the Americas. They travel to Dutch colonies like New Amsterdam,
the island of Curacao, the Wild Coast of Guyana and after 1667 Dutch
Surinam or go to English colonies.

(10a) I’ll
first pay a short visit to old Amsterdam. This map by Johan Blaeu from
1649 (part of Wikimedia Commons) shows a fast growing Amsterdam in
the middle of its Golden Age with the first section of its ring of
canals completed. Its harbor, pointing north west, is the basis of
a worldwide trading network and its stock market (in the red circle)
is the leading financial center until London takes over. Jewish Amsterdam
(in the yellow oval), which counts some 2000 souls, is the model for
the rights and the restrictions of Jewish communities elsewhere. If
need be, its leaders pressure the board of the WIC and lobby the ‘States
General’ (the body of delegates representing the United Provinces)
of the Dutch Republic to protect the Jews in their colonies.

(10b) The city has never seen a ghetto,
but most poor Jews hire some room on Vlooienburg (indicated by the red
oval) and richer Sephardim buy houses near Broadway, our Breestraat.
The council of its Sephardic congregation forms the court of appeal for
conflicts in congregations oversees. Dutch Brazil also influences Jewish
Amsterdam. In 1650, one year after Recife, its congregation likewise
no longer allows circumcision of their ‘black and mulatto’ house slaves.
Sephardic Jews, who are of a darker complexion than Ashkenazi Jews from
Eastern Europe, also ‘whiten’ themselves in their synagogue. Non-white
Jewish serving women are allowed to sit in the women’s section only from
the eighth row backwards. The old Sephardic synagogue Talmud Thora (arrow
S) is situated on the Houtgracht, just yards away from the house of Spinoza,
our greatest philosopher, who in 1656 is banned by his congregation.
One street further north, on Broadway, lives Rembrandt (arrow R), our
greatest painter.

(11) Here is an etching
of Menasseh ben Israel by his friend and neighbour Rembrandt and an engraving
from the old Sephardic synagogue by De Hooghe. This learned rabbi plays
a vital role in a crucial period when Amsterdam is again a safe haven
for several new Christian families, fleeing a fresh wave of persecution
by the Spanish Inquisition, and for Sephardic merchants of the Republic
of Venice, migrating North because the war with the Ottoman Empire destroys
their business. Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe escaping the Cossack
massacres led by Chmielnicki find here shelter as well. When the profitable
sugar trade collapses and Jews return from Dutch Brazil, the Jewish community
of Amsterdam can no longer cope with all these migrants and refugees.
Here the mission of Menasseh ben Israel to London around 1656 fits in.
With skillful messianistic diplomacy and strong economic arguments, he
persuades the Lord Protector Cromwell to accept Jews in the English realm.
On the way back to Amsterdam he dies just before his request is finally
conceded. Jews can now again practice their religion openly, not only
in England itself, but also in its colonies. A new era of Jewish migration
to the Americas starts to relieve crowded Jewish Amsterdam.

(12) This well known Novi
Belgii map is largely based on a manuscript map from 1649 which
formes part of a petition of New Netherland to the States-General
of the Dutch Republic. In spite of some errors the map reflects the
increase in Dutch knowledge of the geography of this area since the
first voyage of Hudson in 1609. It is also a rich source for the
European settlements and for remaining settlements of native Americans
in the middle of the 17th century. The map is reprinted several times,
this version is by Nicholas Visscher. New Netherland is at first
completely dominated by the WIC because of its monopoly on the profitable
fur trade with the Natives. But trading posts alone are vulnerable
to attacks of foreign competitors. In 1628 private merchants, who
have to be shareholders in the company, are allowed to set up their
own colonies. But since 1640 all colonists can trade with the Natives
freely, private shipping is also allowed, albeit under a system of
permits. New Netherland houses soon people from various nations.
As Peter Stuyvesant becomes director-general in 1647, he tries to
improve relations between the WIC and the unruly colonists. But they
insist on political rights and seek support from the Dutch government.
Thus they send 1649 a delegation to the States-General with a petition
which includes the manuscript map.

(13) When early September
1654 a group of 23 Jewish men, women and children arrive in New Amsterdam,
they must have seen these marking points of the port. From left to
right: the large fort with a windmill, a flagpole to announce incoming
ships, a jail, a church and the residence of the director-general.
In the center a gallows tree, then warehouses and homes and finally
the city inn, since 1653 the town hall. But the troubles of the Jews
from Recife are not over yet. The captain of the St. Catherine sues
them for the promised fare of 2500 guilders, which is more than the
worth of their posessions. Two heads of family are kept as hostages
until sums to pay their debt are obtained from local Christians to
be repaid by Jewish relatives in Amsterdam. At least two Jews welcome
the ship: Solomon Pietersz. who acts as their advocate and Jacob Barsimson,
an Ashkenazi trader who has just arrived. In the inset Stuyvesant,
who writes two weeks later to the board of the WIC: The Jews ...
(with their customary usury and deceitful trading with the Christians)
were very repugnant to ... the people ... Also fearing that owing to
their present indigence they might become a charge in the coming winter
... , we have, for the benefit of this weak and newly developing place
... , deemed it useful to require them in a friendly way to depart;
praying also ... that the deceitful race - such hateful enemies and
blasphemers of the name of Christ - be not allowed to further infect
and trouble this new colony to the detraction of your worships.
However, the Amsterdam directors think this unfair because of the losses
these Jews have suffered in Brazil and because by trading in New Netherland
they can repay their debts to the Company. Thus they overrule Stuyvesant
and let the Jews remain provided the poor among them shall not
become a burden to the company or to the community, but be supported
by their own nation.

(14) This is the famous
Castello map by Vingboons, based on a cadastral survey from 1661 (from
the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana Florence). New Amsterdam counts
by now some 1300 settlers, the only public worship permitted is the
Calvinist Dutch Reformed church. The small group of Jews becomes a
small community when in March 1655 six prominent Sephardic merchants
from Holland arrive to start trading. One of them is Abraham de Lucena,
who brings a Torah scroll with him: a Sephfer Thora of parchment
with its green veil and cloak and band of Indian damask of dark purple.
The first private synagogue is probably situated in his rented house
on this corner of Paerl street with Whitehall street (arrow S). The
stern Calvinist Stuyvesant tries to restrict the liberty of these settlers.
He writes: Giving them liberty, we cannot refuse the Lutherans
and Papists. For example: when Salvador Dandrada buys this house
on the corner of Broad street with Stone street (arrow D), Stuyvesant
and his council annul the sale. Also they tax Jews to pay for the town
guard. Jacob Barsimson and Asser Levy protest that they enjoy citizen
rights from Amsterdam and should thus be allowed to keep guard with
others on the town wall. Again Stuyvesant is overruled by the WIC.
And after some years Asser Levy, the Ashkenazi butcher, can buy this
fine house with a garden (arrow L), decades later the site of the Mill
Street synagogue.

(15)Here,
an etching from this NYPL shows some African slaves of New Amsterdam.
And the new map is Manhattan on the North River. This Vingboons manuscript
map (from the Library of Congress) is the first careful study of Manhatten
and depicts the situation in 1639 when the settlement still consists
of scattered farms with an administrative centre protected by the fort.
I have encircled the old quarter for the black slaves of the Company.
They have to repair the fort, chop wood, work the fields and build
houses. The protective wall to the North, now Wall Street, is build
by them as well. African men are also employed in wars with native
Americans, African women mainly in household duties. Two decades later
many live in the so called House of the Companies negroes,
indicated by an arrow on the Castello map (now in South William Street).
These slaves are regularly hired out to private individuals. Both slaves
in private ownership and those belonging to the Company can gain a
kind of ‘half-freedom’, but until the 1650’s their children remain
bound to the master, like in Exodus 21:4. These privileged slaves are
allotted some acres of land on Manhattan. Later some free African-American
communities are permitted, but they still find themselves at the bottom
of society. Baptism of black children usually implies that they can
no longer be slaves. But strangely after 1655 no such baptism is shown
in the registers, while slaves form between 20% and 25% of the local
population. Not much is known about Jewish masters and their slaves
in New Amsterdam. But as WIC governors and the Dutch Reformed clergy
state that servants of Jews cannot be Christians, rich Jews must have
employed African slaves. In the Dutch Caribbean island Curaçao Jewish
ánd Christian merchants start to play a mayor role in the regional
slave trade, mainly to nearby Spanish colonies, but also with New Netherland.
At least one Jew of New Amsterdam participates in this trade.

(16) Though Jews contribute
out of proportion to the ‘voluntary taxes’ for strengthening the outer
works of New Amsterdam, they are not allowed to trade freely with the
Natives, in spite of the permission granted to them by the WIC in Holland.
In a letter from end 1655 Abraham de Lucena, Salvador Dandrada and
Jacob Cohen demand for themselves and in the name of others of
the Jewish nation that they may travel and trade on the South
River, at fort Orange (now Albany) and other places. But Stuyvesant
and his council decline this general request. Only some exceptions
are made. Later the Company instructs the director-general that Jews
are to be allowed to trade freely, but are to remain excluded from
shop keeping as in Amsterdam. You see a map of the Noort Rivier (now
the Hudson) in two parts, from Manhattan up to Fort Orange (white arrow)
where Mohicans live. The other map is of the Suydt Rivier (now
the Delaware) where 12 Indian nations live in friendship as one people
(as the map states). Both maps are published by Vingboons about 1650
(from the Library of Congress), but are based on older local surveys.
Constant restrictions in New Netherland and promising news about Western
Guyana cause Sephardic families to depart. In the Dutch colony on the
Pomeroon River and later in Dutch Surinam they can practice their religion
openly, build synagogues, keep shops and partake in local councils.
A small community of about 40 Jews existed in New Amsterdam for some
5 years only, after which the Torah scroll returns to Amsterdam. Even
in these years there were hardly enough Jews to gather the quorem of
ten adult males necessary to recite the Thora with a blessing. When
in 1664 Britain takes over, only two male Jews, Asser Levy and Jacob
Israel, sign the oath of allegiance to the English crown.

(17) On my final image
is written New Amsterdam, recently called New York and now recaptured
by the Dutch on August 24 1673 (from the Library of the Vrije
Universiteit Amsterdam). When the map of New Netherland that goes with
this profile is published the next year in Amsterdam, the city is again
New York. Reflecting on our short mapping journey I draw two conclusions.

A. Dutch Brazil serves for some Jews as a laboratory,
which proves that a regional slave trade - and a slave driven agricultural
industry - can work profitable. This is exploited later from Curaçao
and its harbor and on plantations in Pomeroon and Surinam, where they
come to form 1/3 of the white population. Jewish New Amsterdam remains
marginal here.

B. In the Atlantic world of our Calvinist
Company, the tolerance for Jews is quite unevenly distributed. The
relative tolerance of Amsterdam remains the norm, but in practice Jews
have more rights in Brazil, but clearly less in New Amsterdam. This
is mainly because multilingual Sephardim form a necessary link between
the WIC and Portuguese colonists. Nonetheless, whatever else New Amsterdam
has bestowed New York with, religious tolerance for Jews is not part
of its Dutch heritage.

Harrie Teunissen and his partner John Steegh are map-collectors
from Leiden in Holland. Their jointly build up collection of some
9000 maps and 1250 atlasses and travel guides, mostly from 1750 –
1950, focuses on water management, city development, ethnic relations
and military conflicts. They organise exhibitions based on this collection,
like ‘The Balkans in maps, five centuries of struggle about identity’
(Leiden University Library 2003). The last years Teunissen researches
mainly for his internet-project ‘Mapping Jewish History’.

Consulted Books

Bernardini, P. & N. Fiering (eds.). The Jews and the Expansion
of Europe to the West, 1450 - 1800. New York & Oxford 2001

A Companhia das Índias Ocidentais.
Facsimile of 20 manuscripts from the 17th century describing events
leading to the invasion of Brazil by the Dutch West Indies Company,
the war, armistice and withdrawal.
www.s4ulanguages.com/wic.html